For one, its motor. Like pretty much every part on the bike, the FZ-09’s powerplant was designed specifically for this made-for-fun naked street machine, though Yamaha officially categorizes the FZ-09 as a “sport” bike (which it certainly is in many respects). It was also designed to be powerful, fast and, most importantly, torquey. And that it is. The FZ-09 oozes torque, 64.5 ft-lb @ 8500 rpm, Yamaha says. No other bike in its class has more, though the BMW F800 R comes pretty close at 63 ft-lb @ 6000 rpm. Although we haven’t had the chance to challenge Yamaha’s torque claims on the dyno yet, our arms, however, seem to think it’s about right after twisting the throttle on the bike for the first time recently. And not only is the FZ-09 torquey but it has tons of midrange gusto and is just plain powerful. And when you combine these elements with a lightweight and agile-handling package, you have the perfect ingredient for some serious f-u-n, which is something we certainly experienced during Yamaha’s recent media launch for the FZ-09.
....not that you have much choice.
